GOP, White House seal budget agreement

Posted: Thursday, November 18, 1999

ALAN FRAMThe Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Capping marathon talks, congressional Republicans and the White House cleared the last known obstacle late Wednesday to agreement on a $390 billion budget bill that includes a small across-the-board cut.

Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said the deal was sealed after Republicans agreed to White House demands for additional flexibility in the application of the across-the-board cuts.

"Jack Lew (President Clinton's budget director) and I just made the deal," the New Mexico Republican said in the Capitol shortly before midnight. "

The budget bill has been agreed to."

An administration official, Linda Ricci, confirmed that agreement was reached on the so-called flexibility issue. She said White House officials were continuing to read the remainder of the massive bill "with a close eye" to make sure agreements funding Clinton's priorities were included accurately.

Republicans said they would push the measure to a roll call today in the House, one of a trio of bills to be voted on in a rush to adjourn for the year.

A second bill would keep government agencies in money for up to five or six days, enough time for congressional leaders to grapple with a threatened filibuster on the budget bill in the Senate. The second measure will extend a series of expiring tax breaks, including one that grants credits for research and development.

In an interview in the Capitol, Domenici said total cuts will amount to 0.38 percent of overall spending throughout hundreds of government programs, although accounts covering military personnel are shielded from any reductions.

While steps have been taken to grant Clinton greater flexibility, Domenici said the agreement includes provisions to make sure that congressional priorities did not bear a disproportionate burden of the cuts.

"I would assume the administration statement will be supporting it," Domenici said.

Disputes over federal support programs for dairy farmers pitted Northeasterners against midwestern lawmakers in both houses. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., told reporters he thought the bill "probably wouldn't pass the Senate" unless some provision was made to help satellite television viewers in rural states.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a fierce defender of West Virginia's economic interests, was seeking inclusion of a provision to help mining companies in his state - an amendment that other lawmakers said was detrimental to the environment.

While Byrd's amendment was apparently being omitted from the final bill, the other issues seemed certain to be grafted onto the budget bill, complicating efforts to gain passage.

The emerging budget deal represented a classic political compromise, crafted to allow both sides to claim victory.

The White House could boast of increased spending for teachers and police, the elimination of several environmental riders sought by Republicans, and the release of long-overdue money for the United Nations. Even with the cuts, spending would rise roughly $32 billion more in fiscal 2000 than last year.

Republicans claimed they crafted a budget that did not dip into the Social Security trust fund, that achieved across-the-board cuts and that won restrictions on funding for overseas abortions.

The agreement on flexibility for the spending cuts capped a day of brinkmanship. It began when Republicans claimed Clinton yielded to their call for across-the-board cuts. The White House and Democratic allies in Congress temporized, and by evening, Republicans said they would force a vote today, with or without agreement.

"We're not going to sit around and haggle," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. "We're just going to write a bill and send it to the House."

Even so, Domenici was authorized to resume negotiations with Lew, and even though the two men did not meet face to face, they had their deal a few hours later.

As contemplated, the across-the-board cuts would save no more than $1.3 billion. But their political significance was important to conservatives eager to depict Republicans as fighting government waste.

In a surprise, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said he expected to vote for the spending measure, assuming some problems were worked out. His support probably would ensure that a majority of House Democrats would vote "yes," all but guaranteeing the huge bill's passage there.

"I think in balance there is more favorable than unfavorable" in the package, Gephardt told reporters, de-emphasizing his complaints that the GOP - despite their claims - dipped into the Social Security trust fund.

Some Republicans, too, seemed ready to claim victory.

"Even if it's 0.001 percent, it sets a precedent we need here," said Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., speaking of the across-the-board cuts. "It recognizes there is fat in government."

Another conservative, Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would vote against the package and was upset that a 1 percent reduction proved to be "a bridge too far."

The two sides agreed to about $6 billion in other savings from two accounting gimmicks. One would delay a payday for the military and some civilian federal workers by a day into fiscal 2001. The other would speed the transfer of money from private accounts held by the Federal Reserve into the government's books.

Republicans were resisting a Democratic demand that in exchange for the across-the-board reduction, billions of dollars the government might win from a lawsuit against the tobacco industry be deposited in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

But as a tradeoff, Republicans agreed to add $100 million to extend federal benefits for patients of AIDS and other diseases who are returning to the work force.